jìng
noun #24,888

Meanings

  1. 1 path; trail
  2. 2 diameter
  3. 3 directly

Examples

HSK 2
Huāyuánlǐ yǒu yītiáo xiǎojìng.
There is a small path in the garden.
HSK 4
Zhège yuán de zhíjìng shì shí límǐ.
The diameter of this circle is ten centimeters.

Tips

usage
is in 直径 (diameter), 半径 (radius), 途径 (way/channel), 小径 (path/trail), and 径直 (directly/straight).

Components

radical
chì
step (radical form)
Left step radical - a small footstep, the side form of 'walk.' It indexes in the family of path and motion characters: go, toward, wait, subtle, follower. Anything written with on the left is, at root, about moving along a road on foot.
phonetic
yòu
hand; again
Top-right sits where traditional had the full phonetic. In the 1956 simplification was contracted to stacked over , preserving the silhouette but shortening the writing. Together + still carries the phonetic role, supplying the sound jīng → jìng for the parent.
phonetic
gōng
work; craft
Bottom-right - the second half of the contracted phonetic. Standalone pictures a carpenter's square; here it has no semantic role of its own, only completing the phonetic frame. The same + contraction pattern appears in (warp), (light), (neck).

Stroke Order

jìng